Editorial: Magic Circle or not?

CityExplorer - A Geogame Extending the Magic Circle

Huizinga [Hui71] identifies several formal characteristics which games share with magic rituals that are bound to a ”magic circle”. He states that games are explicitly defined by the space within which they take place, the time a game or play lasts, and the rules that are active during the game/play. Participants of a game must freely agree to these changes in their ordinary life to be part of ...

The Pervasive Interface; Tracing the Magic Circle

This paper is an addition to the discourse surrounding interface theory and pervasive games. A buzzword by nature, the term ́interface ́ needs to be investigated and redefined in order to remain academically valid; at the same time the pervasive game, being part of recent developments in game culture, needs to be given a place in the discourse of digital games. By approaching the interface throu...

Editorial: The Psychology of Magic and the Magic of Psychology

Forget the Magic Circle (or Towards a Sociology of Video Games)

There have been several sociologists who have written, sometimes quite extensively and informatively, on video games, and more commonly many within video games studies have tapped into wider sociological literatures. However, more generally, the willingness of sociology to engage with video games and gamer analysis has been rather underwhelming, and this is particularly significant, for as Nieb...

Statistics - Magic or Math?

I used to hate statistics. Like many of you I first learned how to assess statistical significance through a variety of seemingly arbitrary formulas handed to me in Statistics 215. Sure I could calculate an answer, but I might as well have been attending Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ; I saw no reason why any such formula should give a decree as to why certain things should be con...